South African animation the biggest winner at Kidscreen Awards

Stick Man won four Kidscreen Awards on Valentine’s Day, bringing its awards total to 11

Animated in Cape Town by Triggerfish; co-directed by South African Daniel Snaddon

Now streaming on Showmax

Triggerfish’ next project, Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes, has its African premiere in March

Stick Man, Triggerfish Animation Studios’ collaboration with Magic Light Pictures, won four awards at the Kidscreen Awards this week, making it the most awarded animation on the night.

Stick Man beat Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer’s Llamas and Bruno & Boots: Go Jump In The Pool to win Best One-Off, Special or TV Movie for Kids. The 26-minute short film also took home Best Direction for Jeroen Jaspaert and South African co-director Daniel Snaddon; Best Music; and Best Design.

The Kidscreen wins are just the latest accolades for Stick Man, which has now won 11 international awards on three continents so far, including the Cristal for a TV Production at the world’s leading animation festival, Annecy.

Animated in Cape Town, Stick Man is an adaptation of the bestselling picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (The Gruffalo).

“Stick Man lives in the family tree with Stick Lady Love and their stick children three,” until he’s taken further and further away from home on an epic adventure across the seasons. He runs from a playful dog, gets thrown in a river, escapes from a swan’s nest, and even ends up on top of a fire, as he tries to get back to his family in time for Christmas.

Stick Man, which premiered on BBC One at Christmas 2015, is currently streaming on Showmax.

Triggerfish’s second BBC One Christmas collaboration with Magic Light Pictures, Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes, will have its African premiere on 2 March 2017 at the Artscape in collaboration with Cape Town International Animation Festival and Design Indaba, less than a week after its international festival premiere as the opening night film at New York International Children’s Film Festival. It will also screen on 4 March 2017 at the Labia as part of the Cape Town International Animation Festival.

Coinciding with the one hundredth anniversary of Dahl’s birth, Revolting Rhymes combines the classic fairy tales of Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk and Cinderella, serving them with a mischievous twist. The two short films are directed by Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer, both former Annecy winners and Oscar nominees. Britain’s Daily Mirror called Revolting Rhymes“the best thing I watched all Christmas,” while The Guardian hailed it as “a treat.”

Triggerfish is currently underway on a third BBC One Christmas collaboration with Magic Light Pictures, The Highway Rat, another Donaldson/Scheffler adaptation.